GPs are often faced with patients seeking help and advice on non-clinical issues such as debt, unemployment and housing. Though these issues undoubtedly impact patients’ health and wellbeing, health professionals are not always the best qualified people to tackle them.

We investigated the impact of putting welfare advice, and welfare advisers in GP surgeries on

the ability of low income groups to secure financial support they are entitled to

patients’ anxiety and stress associated with financial related social worries;

and, to GP time spent managing non-clinical issues

New CLAHRC BITEs offer a summary of two papers investigating the impact –

A qualitative study to identify the processes by which co-located services can improve outcomes for GP practices

Key Findings

Co-location of welfare services has many benefits to patients including:

Offering a signposting option for staff in contact with patients with ‘non-clinical’ social needs.

Helping to address underlying patient social issues.

Providing an alternative option for patients seeking help for such issues.

Those in the advice group whose circumstances improved experienced a bigger improvement in their well-being.

Those in the advice group experienced a bigger reduction in financial strain, reduced credit card and overdraft use.

Those in the advice group experienced a bigger reduction in symptoms of common mental disorder, especially among recipients who were female, those who identified as Black and those who reported that their circumstances improved as a result of advice.

There was, however no evidence for a reduced frequency of GP consultations.

For every £1 of investment by funders, those receiving co-located advice gained £15 in entitlements on average

A new Government green paper offers good news for those calling for joined up care between schools and local mental health services for children and young people.

For the first time the Government is formally recognising, and backing the role of schools as a platform for mental health services, encouraging education and the NHS to work together to offer a “whole-school approach” to mental health and well-being.

Professor Peter Fonagy, CLAHRC mental health lead and head of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at UCL, led a systematic review of the literature and influenced policy makers to secure this step-change in how mental health services are provided for young people in education.

Professor Fonagy commented: “Applied health research data was key in persuading ministers and civil servants that paraprofessionals working in education settings could bring about a step change in increasing access to evidence based mental health interventions and providing therapies early when they are most likely to be effective and to prevent more severe problems in the lives of children and young people.”

The Departments of Education and Health are now seeking stakeholders’ views.